Merry Christmas! Part 3

After a few days with Brian’s family, we ventured across the state again to my family.  Luckily, there was still some snow on the ground (from Christmas morning that somehow missed Brian’s parents’ house).

Sam wanted to make “foot holes” in the snow.

We also spent a day at the lake.   I haven’t been there since this picture, taken at Thanksgiving 2007.  (Brian is holding a 4 week old Sam.)  The lake has changed a lot in some ways and not much at all in others.

Good

We had a good week last week.

We spent last weekend at MamaLinda and Pop’s house. I think Sam really enjoyed the weekend. She also enjoyed Jolie’s baptism after party. She took a great nap every day and had fun playing in the garden, watering plants, feeding the cat, and looking at birds’ nests.

Sam took a good nap several days last week and had tons of laughs.

Brian’s grandfather got out of the hospital on Friday! He had a rough 3+ weeks, but is doing much better.

My dad’s finger is slowly healing, and it doesn’t look like he’ll have to have surgery. He has yet to show anyone (except my mom) because it ALWAYS has a bandage and I know it’s still very sore. I hope it continues to improve.

Brian and I spent this past weekend in Nashville while Sam stayed at MamaLinda and Pop’s house. From the pictures, it looks like they had a great time at the Botanical Gardens.

I had a work thing (mostly social) but we did get the chance to go to The Big Bang, which I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. It was lots of fun. I felt a little like Amy Poehler (except for the getting hit on part). 🙂  (I can’t find the video, but the link shows some pictures which might spark your memory.)

I bought some Crocs for Sam for this summer, and she liked them immediately. However, she always wanted to kick them off. It didn’t matter whether we were inside or outside, she wanted them off. I know she liked them, she just likes to go barefoot. Needless to say, one got lost. Now I’m trying to find a summer pair of tennis shoes that maybe she’ll keep on her feet and will still allow those toes to breathe. So far, I’ve bought 6 pairs of shoes and either they don’t fit, or she doesn’t like them (same as before – refuses to walk when wearing).

Since she doesn’t nap in the afternoons anymore, I’m considering just giving up and running my errands then. I wouldn’t have to wait until 8pm to do it, and then she can pick out her own shoes. I would finally get to those stores that close at 5 or 6 – the ones that I normally have to wait for the weekends. So when we’re out of town on the weekends, my errands just don’t get done.

We got an offer on our house last week. After we turned around our counteroffer, the buyer said we weren’t willing enough to work with her and withdrew her offer. Fine then. Be that way. I don’t want her in my house or near my neighbors if she’s going to be like that. The contract on the house we’d like to buy expires on May 1. Frankly, I can’t wait. I’m so eager to be finished with all this house stuff. Just let me get back to my junky counters and dirty floors. I’ll get 20 minutes of my morning back because I’m not picking up, in the off chance that someone will stop by. Maybe we’ll move in 2011.

And as if I didn’t have enough going on already, I’ve decided to get Sam potty trained for real.  I know she’s ready, but I needed a commitment from our babysitter to help out before I could totally go along with it.  Now that we’re all ready, we’re just going to hang around the house for a few weeks.  Hopefully, by the time baby arrives, we won’t have any more diapers.  Well, I guess we’ll still have diapers, but they’ll be the itty-bitty size, not the big size!  Today is Day 1.  We’ve been home for 2 hours and I’ve already changed her clothes 3 times.  (And yes, she’s supposed to be taking a nap.)

Christmas 2009

I feel like everyone has moved beyond Christmas.  I am running a little behind, so I’m just getting around to posting our Christmas pictures.

Christmas started with brunch at the Betbezes on Christmas Eve.  I really like this tradition.  We enjoyed brunch then the kids began opening presents.  Samantha got lots of great gifts, but the #1 score (in her eyes) was a new shopping cart from Great Aunt Mary.  She barely had the patience for her daddy to put it together.  Goodness.

After naptime, we headed to mass.  It wasn’t as crowded as usual, so we actually had a whole pew to ourselves.  Our friend Kris took this family shot after mass.  It’s one of the few times that Samantha has actually smiled for the camera.  Thanks, guys!

We came home, had Chicken Tortilla Soup (yum) then nestled all snug in our beds.

On Christmas morning, we got up and opened presents.  Samantha got a few books and some hand glove puppets from Santa.  The hit was the Abby Cadabby magic wand book she got.  I like this shot because it shows Sam in her Christmas PJs and slippers, inspecting her new book.

As we were packing the car and getting ready to drive to Huntsville, I went to feed the cats.  We didn’t arrange for anyone to stop by because we were only going to be gone for a few days.  However, I discovered that we were almost out of cat food.  As in, we didn’t have enough to last a few days.  Uh oh.  It was Christmas morning, and I was sure that no store was open that carried our cat food.  Luckily, the Grissoms came to the rescue.  Thanks for buying our cats’ food and taking it by the house to feed them!!

We drove to Huntsville in time for lunch.  The kids were getting ready for their naps so we hurriedly opened presents.  Wow, what craziness.  If I had to guess a favorite from that bunch, it would be the keyboard from MamaLinda and Pop.  Now Samantha can play the piano and push lots of buttons while her daddy is playing too.  She loves dancing to the beat.

On Boxing Day, my mom and I went out shopping while the boys and kids went to the Train Exhibit at the Botanical Gardens.  I think it was a hit.  Of course, anything involving Jackson is sure to be lots of fun.  See a previous post.

On Sunday, we traveled over to Florence to spend some time with Brian’s family.  We enjoyed getting to see everyone.  We opened presents that night then spent a few days relaxing and playing games.  Samantha’s favorite gift was the rocking chair from Nana and Papa.  She loves it!  She also loved Chloe’s skirt and playing with wrapping paper, tissue paper and boxes!

We had a great Christmas!  Whew.  We were glad to spend a few days at home relaxing before beginning the new year!  Here’s one final picture of us in front of our tree at home.  (And you can see my new curtain in the background, and Samantha’s new white dot outfit from MamaLinda!)